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About
Us: The Millers Story
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 In
the Civil War reconstruction era of the 1870’s,
owners of flour mills found themselves hard-pressed by the fast-rising
cost of insurance. The inherent combustibility, even explosiveness,
of grain dust in its storage and grinding processes made high
risks of many flour mills. The major insurance companies of the
day responded to this situation by drastically raising insurance
rates and restricting insurance availability for all milling
companies.
In May 1877, Captain David R. Sparks, a successful flour miller from Alton, Illinois,
called 12 other millers together to propose a mutual insurance organization.
Thus, Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Association of Illinois was chartered on
September 20, 1877. Soon, Millers Mutual began insuring carefully selected Illinois
flour mill owners against fire loss at lower rates. Policy #1 was issued to D.
R. Sparks Milling Company.
That same company, now Millers First Insurance Company, remains an Illinois domiciled
insurance company. Millers First Insurance Company and Millers Classified Insurance
Company operate under the name Millers First Insurance Companies and are part of the
Affiliated Mutual Holding Company group. Affiliated Mutual Holding Company also includes
D. R. Sparks Insurance Services, Inc. (d/b/a Egisure Insurance,
Egiserve Insurance and Millers First Insurance Agency).
As policyholder needs and financial markets have changed over the years,
so has the Millers organization. Today, Millers First insures tens of thousands
of Midwestern policyholders for their personal risk of property and liability
losses. Personal auto, homeowners, personal umbrella liability and dwelling
fire property and casualty coverages are issued for Millers policyholders
in Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. In addition, we often
accommodate other insurance needs of our customers, such as life, health
and commercial exposures, through our business partners, including Egisure
Insurance, Egiserve Insurance and Millers First Insurance Agency.
Some of our policyholders have been protected by Millers for more than 50
years. Others represent the fourth and fifth generations of families protected
since 1877 by Millers dependability and reliability!
Our People Make the Difference
Millers First employees work to protect and serve its policyholders from the
headquarters in Alton, Illinois. Our employees make the difference by providing
service you can depend on. For over 130 years, our policyholders have known that
when they place their trust in Millers First, we are there when they need us.
Millers First is staffed with caring people who understand the emotional,
as well as the financial loss when a claim occurs. Honesty, dependability
and responsiveness are all reasons families stay with Millers First – some
for decades over multiple generations! We take particular pride in our reputation
for prompt, satisfactory claim service. That means you can depend on Millers
First when you need us most.
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Current President and Chief Executive Officer
Represents Fifth Generation of Family |
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George S. Milnor II is the fifth generation
of the Sparks-Milnor family to help lead the organization.
Millers First Insurance Company, formerly Millers Mutual Insurance Association,
was founded in 1877 by his great-great grandfather, Captain David R. Sparks.
Milnor has held various positions within
the organization since 1973 and was elected Chairman of the Board of Affiliated
Mutual Holding Company on April 2, 2003. He holds the office of President
and Chief Executive Officer of Millers First Insurance Companies.
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